Customer Reviews

Structures Silence

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought Steve Roach's Quiet Music could never be topped for the best soothing music to calm the soul, but Structures From Silence is equally as excellent! I love this CD! This is just a re-release of the 1984 Structures From Silence album, and no changes were made except for the albums cover. I suffer from anxiety symptoms and when I listen to this album is calms me right down, my blood pressure and heart rate both drop significantly, and I can even fall fast asleep to it! Normally it is very difficult for me to fall asleep. I love all three songs and they blend together is a sea of peace and calm. The song "Structures From Silence" is particularly soothing. This album is so beautiful it can almost make me cry. I have most of the Steve Roach albums, and this is his finest work. Buy this if your aim is to sooth your soul and quiet your mind- You can not go wrong! Way beyond a 5 star rating, and priceless in it's ability to heal.

Decades ago there was a program on KCRW (NPR affiliate in Santa Monica, CA) called "Discrete Music" (yes, named after Eno) that was broadcast at 5:00 am Sundays. I believe the DJ was Dean Suzuki. I would set the clock radio next to my bed to activate at 5:00 am on very low volume and the ambient tunes would flow in and out of my conscieousness and inevidibly set a mood of serenity for the rest of the day. Dean's impeccable selections introduced me to many pieces of music that have become life-long favorites. Among those near the top -- this album.

In "Reflections in Suspension," the discrete tones fall gently into the pool of ambience as do the beginning drops of rain into a mountain stream. The sequence of tones is very teasing. The mix of anticipation and surrender is thrillingly sublime.

This entire album always evokes a quote from Brian Eno which I will paraphrase as "The more something stays the same, the more it changes," meaning that the listener is drawn into a heightened sensativity where even the smallest variations become momentous.

An example of this acuity was demonstrated to me on a race from San Diego to Manzanillo, Mexico, in the mid 80's as several of us were languishing through a night of very light wind. I slipped "Structures From Silence" into the cassette player and was intrigued to observe everyone becomming more alert. Sails were adjusted in and out a centimeter at a time, the course adjusted by a degree or two, and the speed increased. People were not nodding as they vainly tried to thwart tedium and fatigue; instead, heads were up, looking around, discerning changes, feeling wind.

The next morning one of the crew that was off-watch while we had been sailing and listening to this album complained that they couldn't sleep with this music on! This particular person's favorite music was Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffet and "Structures From Silence" had kept them from sleeping. The specific complaint was something like, "There's no beginning! There's no end! And there's nothing much in the middle either!!" Sorry, the people on watch LOVED it...

I bought the original 1984 release of Structures from Silence, but I don't think there is a noticeable difference between that and the 2001 release. This is Steve Roach's first true atmospheric release (He had two less atmospheric albums before that). It may sound a little outdated and simple compared to newer ambient albums, but within its simplicity is a calming beauty that can relax every muscle in your body. It can transport you to a surreal dream world filled with a relaxing warmth. After you finished listening to this recording, you will feel refreshed and reenergized. Do yourself a favor and buy this album.

I have to say this is the MOST BEAUTIFUL cd that I own. My favourite track is "Quiet Friend"-I am always moved to tears each time I listen to it. I close my eyes and imagine flying through the blue among the clouds-hence, it's the perfect song to listen to during an airplane flight. It's pure, clear, airy and beautiful, like a windswept sky-and listening to this song fills my soul with a heavenly feeling. I daresay that this would be what heaven sounds like! I reccomend this album to those of you who like repetitive, introspective music. The chords are simple, and this music is better listened to for the pleasure of creating your own daydreams or fantasies, not to be listened to for technical merit. Structures from Silence speaks to your heart and soul, not your head. That's what makes it so good-you create your own images. That's why I like to listen to this when I'm doing my artwork-it helps me visualise what I'm feeling.

I've been listening to this album on and off for years, and I never tire of it. It's amazing that something so simple as these pieces are, can hold the mind and calm you in such a powerful way. I recommend this CD to anyone with a reflective mind. These pieces provide that extra gentle nudge to enter a peaceful place within yourself.

This album is alot of fun. It is relaxing and at the same time very challenging. Very intricate and subtle changes run through the music and force the listener to engage the sounds and the lack of sounds. There is something about this album I find very interesting. When people with short attention spans listen to this music -it drives them crazy. Some people can't stop listening to it. Structures is a wonderful work of art.

You can best appreciate all the spatial interplay for the brain available from Steve Roach's craftsmanship when you listen to this recording with very good equipment and great headphones. The reverbs call back and forth to the left and right sides of the brain, causing it to expand into a larger universe. Great music to use with Sound & Light Machines that use flickering LCD lights in eye goggles and binaural sounds through the same headphones to entrain the brain. So useful for jetlag, memory enhancement, re-establishing R.E.M. sleep for disorders like fibromyalgia,etc. With all of the music I've experimented to get the best "ride" out of the Sound & Light Machines, this CD has been the absolute best. Roach is the Master of Suspension. Coming off the end of the CD and removing the headphones is like reluctantly stepping down in consciousness. For a natural high this CD is an excellent trip!

Roach is a composer who often uses repetition in order to generate an emotional state in the listener that can be almost trance-like. This early work is a carefully crafted distillation of that technique. The liner-notes by Roach show just how seriously he takes his music. This is a work of art, pure and simple. It does not need to justify itself. It simply is.

Structures from Silence is Roach's best early cd, and quite possibly his best cd altogether. In Structures, his melodies are so soft and gentle, that it automatically relaxes you with its charm. Keep in mind, however, that this is not in any way a NEW AGE Yoga session. What Roach has composed is an intricate wave like pattern in his music that is so beautiful and haunting. To put it more buntly, it seems to speak to your soul and nourish it with beautiful melodies accompanied by a contemplation of your own life. I fully reccomend this to all who are weary of the John Tesh/Yanni arena that all sounds all too similar.

This CD was my introduction to the work of Steve Roach, and to ambient electronic music. Based on this experience, I intend to listen to more of his work. I find this melancholy but strangely soothing music perfect for meditation and for de-stressing after work. Absolutely lovely.